US stocks finish down

US stocks retreated today as Wall Street took a breather from this week's recent rally, sobered a bit by mixed earnings reports, a tumbling dollar and surging oil prices.

The Dow Jones industrials had been driven up more than 400 points in the two days following the Fed's half-point rate reduction, so it was to be expected that investors would eventually stop to cash in gains.

So when a few major companies, particularly Bear Stearns and Circuit City, posted wider-than-expected drops in third-quarter profit today, Wall Street's giddiness following the Fed's rate cut waned, and nervousness resurfaced about how long it might take for the economy and corporate America to rebound from the recent market turmoil.

"Historically, after the Fed eases, the market takes about a month to figure out whether the easing was a good thing or a bad thing," said Brian Gendered, investment strategist for ING Investment Management.

Although the credit markets are improving, investors remain worried about the US economy dipping into recession and unsure of where to put their money, Gendered said. "Now that the crisis is abating, the question is, what are we going to do next?"

Wall Street did get some good news today. The Labour Department said jobless claims declined by 9,000 last week, despite August's decrease in payrolls, and Goldman Sachs reported a surprisingly large 79% profit rise in the third quarter.

In August, stocks plunged and credit markets tightened up due largely to housing market troubles.

But Bear Stearns did not weather the market turmoil as well, and suffered a larger-than-anticipated 62% profit drop.

Electronics retailer Circuit City Stores also posted a big quarterly loss that troubled Wall Street, sending its shares tumbling.

Meanwhile, crude oil prices surged to a new all-time high above $83 a barrel.

The Dow slipped 48.86, or 0.35%, to close at 13,766.70.

Broader stock indexes also declined. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 10.29, or 0.67%, to 1,518.74, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq composite index fell 12.19, or 0.46%, to 2,654.29.